SALT LAKE CITY - Defense plus rebounding has gotten Michigan State through more lean offensive times than coach Tom Izzo can count.

The mixture was all wrong in the first half of the Spartans' game against No. 20-ranked Brigham Young on Saturday afternoon in EnergySolutions Arena, and the result was a 10-point halftime deficit.

But after some vigorous stirring by Izzo in the locker room, No. 9 Michigan State (8-1) outscored the Cougars by 17 in the second half to pull out an impressive 68-61 victory.

"Going into halftime, that's pretty much all we talked about," said senior guard Drew Neitzel, who made 1 of 6 first-half field-goal attempts and was passing up open shots. "We weren't playing very well individually and as a team, including myself.

"We felt fortunate to be down only 10. We started off the second half really strong and cut the lead down and just kept grinding it out from there."

Neitzel made 5 of 8 in the second half and shared team scoring honors with sophomore wing forward Raymar Morgan, who also had 15 points.

The Spartans certainly kicked its offense in gear. Their shooting improved from 29.4 percent (10 of 34) in the first half to 66.7 percent 16 of 24) in the second.

While MSU rebounded effectively -- 37-29 at the end -- the difference, Izzo said, came on defense.

"At halftime, we got after it a little bit," he said, "and deservingly so. We did not execute offensive and we did not check defensively."

The Cougars made 58.3 percent from the field and made 5 of 10 3-point shots in the first half. That dropped to 30.4 percent and they went 4-for-14 from behind the arc in the second.

"If you looked at the first half, our defense was non-existent," Izzo said. "We didn't have a hand up and I thought they cut us to shreds. I said after we beat North Carolina State a week-and-a-half ago that we executed the game plan to a tee. I told them at halftime they must have gone on strike on me.

"We went back to the way we did it and it was very, very good in the second half."

Michigan State may look back on this week for what its accomplishment did for the season.

On Tuesday the Spartans came back from a nine-point second-half deficit to beat a tough Bradley team, 66-61, before the largest crowd ever to watch a basketball of any kind in Peoria, Ill.

They were down by as many as 14 against the Cougars before a crowd of 16,412, the biggest ever to watch a college basketball game in Salt Lake City.

"It's huge," said Morgan, who got each of his six rebounds on the offense boards. "These were two tough places to play. This was one of the loudest arenas I ever played in. We're going back home happy."

Senior center Trent Plaisted led BYU (7-2) with 19 points, but Izzo said the improved defense of fifth-year center Drew Naymick was responsible for keeping him at bay throughout much of the second half.

Junior Spartan guard Travis Walton started off the second half with short jumper to start a 14-3 run that put MSU back in the lead for the first time since Morgan's game-opening basket.

Meantime, redshirt junior power forward Goran Suton, started attacking on both ends of the court. All 12 of his points and seven of his game-high 13 rebounds came in the second half.

Despite being well-guarded by Neitzel, senior Ben Murdock made a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give BYU it's last lead, 54-53, with 4:58 to play.

But Naymick, who finished with four points, regained the lead with a dunk. The Spartans finally pulled away by back-to-back Netizel baskets, including a 3-pointer that made it 62-56, with 2:19.

Walton ended up with a season-high 12 points after closing the Cougars out by making six straight free throws in the final 43 seconds.